Bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim “In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.”

Predictions
This year many people are predicting the world to end in 2012. If you have a second read Iman Mustafa article response to this question at Suhaibwebb.com.
No one can make predictions only Allah (SWT- The most glorified, the most high) knows all that will happen.
The Qur’an has many predictions about events that will happen in the future, its preservation, that it unmatched. Also of past events at the time of the Prophet (PBUH) like the victory of Badr and Mekkah, and the creation of an Islamic state.
Take a look at this youtube video at the discovery of the Pharoah’s body in 1898 and examined in 1975:

Science
Recently, one of the local masjids next to me hosted an interfaith book club. I was not able to attend but it is on my to be read list Science and the Search for God by theologian Gary Kowalski.
Verse 30:1-5 states in reference to the story of creation: “Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?.”
This event is usually referred to at the “Big Bang.” You can read more about it in this article on the Big Bang by Yusef Estes.
In addition to the Big Bang the Qu’ran speaks to us of other aspects of nature such as the orbits of planets-
*It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course.(21:33)
*It is not allowable for the sun to reach the moon, nor does the night overtake the day, but each, in an orbit, is swimming. (36:40).
There is also evidence of the fact that beehives are ruled by a female not a male
*And your Lord inspired to the bee, “Take for yourself among the mountains, houses, and among the trees and [in] that which they construct.
You can continue reading about the Qu’ran and Science at about.com in their article.

Flawless
To this day no one has found any mistakes or inaccuracies. It has baffled many throughout out history as they have combed through to search for errors. The Qu’ran says:
*Then do they not reflect upon the Qur’an? If it had been from [any] other than Allah , they would have found within it much contradiction.(4:82)

Additional Resources

Request a beautiful free Qu’ran you only have to pay shipping, it was the first one I received when I converted. This copy has the English, Arabic, and English Transliteration.

Bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim “In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.”

The next topic we covered in Dawah 101 for the Islam 101 class is The Quran. The subject was broken up into three sections: What is it?, How was it preserved?, and Why is it so special?

Recently I read the article “The Basis of Islamic Belief: A comprehensive insight to the modern miracles of Islam” by Dr. Gary Miller also known as (Abdul-Ahad Omar) is a Canadian Mathematician and former Christian Missionary who has converted to Islam. In the article Dr. Miller states”Ask a Muslim, “Well what is your miracle? Why are you a Muslim? Where is your miracle?” and the Muslim can go over and take his miracle off the shelf and hand it over to you because his miracle is still with us today. It is the Qur’an; it is his”touchstone”.

What is it?
*Considered the Final Book of God revealed to humanity
*Objective: a guide for mankind to God’s Mercy and Beneficence.
*This world we are in is just a test ground
*The Afterworld is where man receives the results of the test from the Almighty
*These results will be based on faith and deeds in this world, whether it is reward or punishment
*Purpose: to make man aware of this reality and to guide man as to how to live his Worldly- Life so as to successfully prepare for his After-Life
*The primary source for every Muslim’s faith and practice
*An outline for the relationship between God and his creation.
*Guidelines and teachings for personal, societal, economic and political morality

How was the Qur’an preserved?
*Every word was recorded as soon as it was revealed by God through the angel Gabriel to the Prophet
*Zaid bin Thabit, the Prophet’s (pbuh) main scribe, recorded the scripture word for word
*Zaid would read back what he had recorded to the Prophet for accuracy
*Zaid and many other early Muslims memorized the Qu’ran immediately after there revelation
*At the time of the Prophet’s death, over 300 companions had memorized the entire Qur’an by heart and many more memorized large portions.
*At the suggestion of Umar ibn Al-Khattab, Abu Bakr (the first Caliph), organized the Qur’an into one volume
*The system for organize was very precise: 1st Zain checked that each verse matched his memorization, 2nd each verse was matched by the memories of 2 Companions who memorized the Qur’an directly from the Prophet, 3rd each verse had to match the version written down under direct supervision of the Prophet.
*During the time of the 2nd Caliphy, Umar, the copy was kept with Hafsah a widow of the Prophet
*In order to prevent confusion a standard version was prepared in the dialect of the Quraysh tribe, and copies were sent out to each Muslim nation with a teacher in order to remain consistant and teach the way the Qur’an should be recited.
*Two of the orginal copies still exist today in Istanbul, Turkey and Tashkent, Khazakhstan

Why is the Qur’an so special?
*Since Muhammad was the last Prophet sent by God to mankind, he was given a miracle that could seen for all time, and that was the Qur’an
*The following reasons:Preservation, Eloquence, Predictions, History, Science, Flawless

Preservation
*The Quran predicts:
“Indeed we have sent down the Reminder and surely we will preserve it.” (15:9)
*Even without a written copy the Qur’an is memorized by Muslims worldwide including children as
young as 12 in Arabic even if it is not their native tongue
* Before Islam, all the revelations were not given this divine warranty
*There is no other religious scripture on earth which is orally preserved in it original language
Eloquence

*At the time of the Prophet (pbuh) 3 modes of expression were used: normal speech, the speech of soothsayers, and poetry
*Arabs were masters of their language and poetry was a cultural highlight
*When the Qur’an was revealed it was nothing like they had ever heard before
* In the Qur’an, God posed a challenge to people: “If you think this book is from anyone other than the Lord of the Universe, then make even one chapter like it”.
*To this day its beauty continues to bring people to tears when recited

History

*The Qur’an mentions stories of past Prophets and nations
*Muhammad had no way of knowing this information- he lived among the Quraysh for 40 years and never studied under a monk or priest nor history
*Despite his illiteracy he suddenly started informing people of the stories of previous Prophets and nations with specific detail

As the daughter of two teachers, education is very important to me. I am always looking to increase my knowledge, especially when it comes to religion. Before I continue of the next topic from the classes I wanted to mention some groups that provide education about Islam. Both groups I am going to mention are for women only.
The first group I discovered a while ago Habibi Halaqas. They started out as a small group with live webinars that you could register for and if you missed them you could receive access to recordings by email with a special code. They now have a full website with great articles to read and still provide access to their webinars. Check out Habibi Halaqas at http://www.habibihalaqas.org/.

The second group I absolutely love they have done amazing work in just a few short months. I discovered this group shortly after their debut last October. An amazing group of Muslim sisters have worked so hard to gather the best speakers and is accessible 24/7. You can meet sisters from all over the world. I was happy to meet a few of the women in person from the group at the last Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) convention this past May. The group is called Sisters of Sunnah. They also have a facebook page and twitter account to keep updated on events. You can listen to previous lectures anytime at the YouTube channel. The group has really grown in the last few months, inshallah (God Willing) they will continue to grow.

*The Prophet (pbuh) is invited to the city of Yathrib
*This was called the migration of Hijrah
*The Quraysh plotted to kill Muhammad before he could leave to go to Yatrib
*Allah commanded Muhammad to go to Yatrib
*The Prophet left in the night and gave his cloak to Ali, telling him to stay in his bed so that people would think he was still in the house
*The Prophet left to join Abu Bakr on their dangerous journey
*The city of Yatrib was renamed Madinah
*The Charter of Madinah was drafted to protect the common good of the city and individual right’s of all those that resided in the city including the Jews, Muslims, and Pagans.

Fight for Survival
*There was an ultimatum given to the city of Madinah to extract the Muslims within the city
*A revelation was received: “Permission has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory.” 22:39
*More revelations came down detailing the rules of engagement: “And fight them on until there is no more Tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God; but if they cease, Let there be no hostility except to those who practise oppression.”(2:193)
*The Battle of Badr began with the Prophet leading just over 300 men against the Makkan caravan
*The Quraysh sent an army of 1,000 men
*The Muslims won a suprise visoty
*A year later the Makkans invaded Medinah with an army of 3000 to avenge the defeat at Badr.
*The Muslims had a force of about 700 and were winning the battle
*Until a group of archers left there posts
The Makkans attacked from behind, and the Muslims had to retreat to the Mountain of Uhud
*The Muslims spent most of the next year fighting small attacks
*They prepared for a siege in the fifth year of Hijrah, with army of less than 3,000
*Digging a trench around the city to defend themselves
*The siege lasted four weeks
*During the third week the invaders convinced a Jewish Tribe, the Bani Qurayzh, to attack within the city
*The Muslims surrounded the traitorous Qurayzah tribe and they surrendered
*Islam became influential in the region as the Makkans lost their prestige

Truce and Victory
*The Prophet had a vision in the 6th year of Hijrah of entering the holy place of Makkah
*He was determined to attempt the pilgrimage and set out on the journey with a company of 1,400
*The Muslims camped out in place called Hudaybiyah
*Convinced that Muslims were not there to attach the Quraysh negotiated a truce
*The treaty allowed for peace for 10 years and the Prophet would return to Medinah without visiting the Ka’bah, but would be allowed to return for a pilgrimage the following year
*The Quraysh broke the treaty in the 8th year of Hijrah
*The Prophet issued a declaration of war with an army of 10,000 Muslims
*The Quraysh were over-whelmed and offered no resistance
*The Prophet declared amnesty and the people of Makkah swore allegiance to him
*The Phrophet destroyed all the idols in the sanctuary declaring “Truth has come; and falsehood has vanished away.”
*In the 9th year of Hijrah the Prophet had become the de facto emperor of Arabia, but remained humble in every aspect of his life.

Farewell Sermon
*In the 10th year of Hijrah, the Prophet announced his Pilgrimage
*The final sermon was delivered to over 100,000 pilgrims in the valley of Arafat
*Read the sermon on the Islamic Bulletin website
*One month after the Pilgrimage, the Prophet became ill
*At 63 years old two months later he passed away
*Many did not believe he had died until Abu Bakr recited from the Quran: “Muhammad is only a messenger: many are the messengers
who have died before him; if he dies, or is slain, will you turn back on your heels?”(3:144)

I will continue will the lesson I learned from the Da’wah 101 class, inshallah.

Open Preaching

*The Prophet (pbuh) received the verse: “Therefore, proclaim openly (Allah’s Message of Tawheed) that which you are commanded, and turn away from Al-Mushrikun (polytheists, idolaters, and disbelievers),” (15:94) and began to preach in public.
*On a hillside in Makkah, he called to the people, and spoke out against the idolatry
*Islam began to spread and became a growing threat to the power of the Quraysh tribe
*Early Muslims were persecuted
*In the 5th year after revelation the weaker followers escape to Abyssinia, a land ruled by a Christian king.

Bitter Persecution
*In the 7th year after the Revelation, the smaller tribes of converts that had remained were removed from Makkah, this included Muhammad (pbuh) and forced to live in the harsh desert.
*Food supplies and all social contact to the outcast groups was cut out.
*They lived in the desert for three years
*Some members of the Quraysh took pity on the Muslims and allowed them back to the city
*Living in exile had taken its toll and many died soon after their return, including Muhammad’s wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib.
*Beyond believing in One God and praying to Him daily, Muhammad was teaching his followers a way of life.
*In the 11th year after the Revelation, the Prophet experienced the miracle of Israa and Mi’raj (the night Journey and Ascension)
-The Angel Gabriel transported the Prophet to the city of
Jerusalem where he entered the ancient Temple
-In the Temple he met with the Prophets of the past: Abraham,
Jesus, Moses, David, and many others.
-He was than raised up into heaven, passing each of the 7
seven levels of paradise.
-He again met the Prophets but this time he saw them as beings
of perfection and light.
-The Prophet witnessed many more signs and wonders and than
was transported back home
*The next day he went to the Ka’bah and spoke about his miraculous journey
*He was mocked and the pagans said it was proof that Muhammad had gone mad
*Muhammad’s friends and true believers defended his story
*Abu Bakr had asked Muhammad to describe the city of Jerusalem, because everyone had known Muhammad had never visited the city
*Muhammad gave an accurate description with detail and had convinced Abu Bakr of his night journey

I have to go to the second Islam 101 class to observe so I will continue this topic tomorrow inshallah.

“ASH-HADU ANLA ELAHA ILLA-ALLAH WA ASH-HADU ANNA MOHAMMADAN RASUL-ALLAH”.
Translation: “I bear witness that there is no deity (none truely to be worshipped) but, Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”.

The Da’wah class topic of the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was broken up into eight sections: The noble youth, revelation begins, open preaching, bitter persecution, a new beginning, fight for survival, truce and victory, and farewell sermon.

The Noble Youth( main points)

* Muhammad son of Abdullah born in 570 CE
*Left an orphan before the age of six, raised by his grandfather and then uncle Abu Talib
*Grew up in a pagen society
*He was different in manner than those around him, speech remained clean and stayed away from drinking and gambling
*He was known as As-Sadiq Al-Amin (The Truthful, the Trustworthy)
*He traveled with his uncle as merchant in caravans to Syria
*He became known as a successful businessman and leader
*Caught the attention of a prominent businesswoman, Khadijah, she hired him and received an excellent report of his character, and she proposed marriage to him
*They were happily married for twenty six years
*Muhammad lived a frugal life spending most of his time in meditation.

Revelation Begins
*The first revelation was received when Muhammad (peace be upon him) was forty years old in 610 CE.
*An angel appeared in the cave of Hira during the month of Ramadan and in a thundering voice said “READ”.
*Muhammad replied that he could not read
*The angel surrounded Muhammad completely and pressing hard against him again said “READ!”
*Again Muhammad replied that he could not read
*A third time the angel pressing even harder than before requested Muhammad to “READ!!”
*Muhammad answered “What shall I read?”
*The angel recited:Read in the name of your Lord Who created; Who created man from clots of blood. Read, for your Lord is most generous Who taught by the pen. He taught man what he did not know. Man indeed transgresses if he thinks himself a law unto himself, for to your Lord all things return.
*Muhammad ran from the cave in fright but heard in a loud voice:O Muhammad! You are the Messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.

Salam Alikum (Peace Be Upon You)
Yesterday, I attended the Da’wah 101 class and we were asked to begin training to either teach an Islam 101 course to give tours of the masjid. I am not sure if I will be able to do either since I work full time and go to school but, I am very interested in learning about the process. Possibly even pursue teaching in the future at a masjid a little closer to where I live. Anyway, so I just returned from attending the Islam 101 course. The idea is that we will attend two cycles of classes, if you are interested in teaching. The Islam 101 class is four weeks long, after attending the two cycles we will begin to teach the course under-supervision. After passing the exam for the class and successfully teaching the course, than we can begin teaching or giving tours on our own. If you were interested in giving tours, you would need to contact the sister who currently gives tours to observe her to two consecutive tours and then you could begin to give the tour under her supervision.
The Islam 101 course began with a prayer to open and the students were asked if they had attended the class before, I happened to be in room where almost everyone was new. The instructor gave all the new student a copy of the Quran and a beautiful folder with the articles that I mentioned yesterday. There was so much discussion in this group that we were only able to go through the first article. The group had many deep questions, many of which will be touched on during the other classes.

This afternoon I am attending my class at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC). The class is Da’wah 101: How to Tell Others about Islam, it is a 12 week long program held at the masjid. Over the next few days I will post some of the articles and information I received in the class. One of the first readings we received was the first chapter of Understanding Islam: An Introduction By C. T. R. Hewer which allowed us to read a inter-faith perspective on Islam. You can read the first chapter here: http://store.fortresspress.com/media/downloads/0800637917_chap1.pdf.

The next article we received is from the Islam 101 class offered at through WhyIslam?Islam 101 Intro Packet. This course was originally offered in Cambridge, MA at the Islamic Society of Boston Masjid and you find more about it if you are in the area on there website. They have now expanded to The ISBCC on Monday nights. If you are not in the Boston area and interested about finding more about Islam check with your local Masjid or contact WhyIslam?, they have several brochures you can read.

When I first wanted to learn about Islam several years ago was go to the public library. I checked out everything they had and then checked to see if I could request more from other libraries. One of the videos I watched was Islam Empire of Faith from PBS, this video took you through the history of how Islam started with the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH). “Knowledge is power” said by Sir Francis Bacon, there is a lot of misleading information about via media and misunderstanding. It is important for everyone to educate themselves on the truth. In addition to checking out books I also looked for information locally and I discovered a month long list of activities at UMASS Lowell for Islamic Awareness, there I met a great group of people and attended several informative lectures one of which was given by Iman Siraj Wahhaj. In the beginning I also viewed stories of converts such as Nicole Queen and Yusef Islam (AKA Cat Stevens). After prayer, self-reflection, and educating myself I made the decision to convert to Islam and for me Allhumdullah (“Praise to God”) it was the best choice. I hope that you will follow me on my journey as I continue to learn and grow in Islam. Inshallah- “God Willing”

It has been a while since I posted something here, inshallah (God Willing) I am hoping to be more active with my writing. I am a Muslim revert, I converted back to Islam a little more than five years ago. This blog will be information about Islam and other things I find interesting like education and technology. It a few days will be Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims. I just found this great toolkit on another blog I would like to share: click here for the Ramadan Tool Kit. The tool kit looks like a great guide to get you through the month.

The Quran prescribes fasting for believers in these words, “O you who believe, the fasts have been enjoined upon you as they were enjoined upon those before you, so that you may have taqwa” (2:183). The fasting helps you to purify your soul and gain Taqwa or God-Consciousness.

To read more about Ramadan you can read the about.com guide What is Ramadan?by Huda, a Muslim educator and writer. Huda also writes a newsletter that you can subscribe to at the bottom of the guide, if you are interested in finding out more about Islam.